and the song remains the same
by RoslinSharp
Summary: Sometimes love just isn't enough. (AU where Erik grows up with Charles instead of Mystique.) This story is a oneshot and will not be continued


Erik comes to America at the age of fourteen. Two years after Auschwitz. Two years after his mother was killed his mother in cold blood and he killed Shaw in revenge. He stands among the other immigrants on a crowded ship, gazing out at the tall green lady who beckons toward them with a fiery torch. She promises them hope, freedom, a fresh start.

For Erik, such dreams are short-lived. The Ameicans who come to the orphanage are looking for young children who will fall on their new parents in gratitude, not a hardened teenage boy who destroys the bed springs with the sheer power of his nightmares. The other children and even some of the staff recoil from him in fear.

Erik escapes a scant two weeks later, determined to be master of his own fate.

…

Locks and bolts are nothing to a boy who can bend metal to his will. Such, Erik finds himself in a certain Massachusetts mansion, raiding the kitchen for food and any other valuables he can get away with.

'What are you doing, Erik?' The voice resounds in his head like a thunderbolt. Erik winces in pain, dropping his pile of loot on the expensive lacquered floor. The voice continues, softer but still pervasive. 'My stepfather designed our security system himself. He said no one can get in without tripping the alarm. At least not anyone normal."

Footsteps approach and Erik is astonished to see a young boy his own age come into view. The other child ignores the kitchen knives that float menacingly towards him and smiles at Erik at wonder.

"I always knew I wasn't the only one of my kind. Take whatever you want, Erik. You don't have to steal. In fact, you'll never have to steal again!"

….

The next day, Charles' mother welcomes Erik to the family with open arms. "Come and meet your new brother, Charles," she says, placing her arms around both boys. Charles winks at him mischieviously.

The nighmares still come, but this time Charles slips into bed next to him.

'Don't worry,' Charles whispers into his mind, 'you're safe here. .' He wraps his arms around Erik and lays his head on the other boy's chest. 'We're brothers now, Erik. I will never let anything happen to you.'

Three years later and they're doing far more than cuddling. Erik has broken the bed more times than he can remember and Charles has "persuaded" the maids on multiple occasions to hide the soiled sheets.

…

Another ten years passes and they're at Oxford washing their own laundry. Or rather, Erik does the chores while Charles works on his doctorate.

"I don't know how you stand it Charles," he tells his lover over their nightly game of chess, "all these years of research and you've never the slightest effort to seek out others of our kind."

"And what if they don't want to be found, my friend? Form a brotherhood of mutant superiority as you suggest? They'll emerge when the time comes, when society is ready to accept us."

Erik topples

"The human race will never accept us, Charles. I've seen firsthand what happens to those who are different, it's up to us to make the first move. You've been in my head Charles, you know everything I'm telling you is the truth."

His naïve lover simply shakes his head and moves to pick up the scattered chess pieces from the floor.

It ends as it usually does, with them making love on the floor.

"I love you, Charles," he whispers as they fall asleep. "I always will."

….

Eventually, the arguments cease. Both too stubborn to come to a compromise, communication nearly ceases altogether. Erik is considering leaving his lover to make his own way, when change arrives in a most unexpected form.

….

Her name is Raven, a shapeshifter Charles found wandering the streets of London. Charles is fascinated by her abilities, Erik enamored by her true form. She's wild and undisciplined from a life on the streets, but with time she comes to accept her two guardians.

"Do you really think I'm beautiful," Raven mumbles one night. They're curled up on the couch together watching Casablanca. "Radiant," Erik whispers, as he curls a lock of red hair between his fingers. "Don't ever let another person on this planet tell you differently."

…

"Hello, Mr. Lehnsherr."

He's seen her at the bar before; tall, blonde, well-dressed. She's attractive, but nowhere near his type.

"Sorry darling, but I'm already taken," Erik replies flippantly.

The woman laughs. "Oh believe me, I know your telepath friend has quite a hold on you. Trust me honey, my interest in you is strictly business."

Erik is too drunk to care. "Another mutant, how wonderful. And what may I ask is your power?"

'The same as your lover's.'

Now she has his attention.

"Splendid, another telepath, just what I need in my life right now. And what can I do for you Miss-?"

"Frost, Emma Frost. I'm the leader of a little group we call the Hellfire Club. Erik, I know what you've been searching for, a different path for mutants, a world where we no longer have to hide. We can give you all of these things and more. She stands up and drops a card non-chalantly on the table.

"I hope you'll at least consider my offer, Mr. Lehnsherr.

Emma turns to leave, only to stop midturn.

"And by the way, you're welcome to bring your shapeshifter friend with you. One of my colleagues has red skin and a tail. She'll fit in perfectly."

….

"Erik, where have you been, I've been calling to you for hours!"

Emma, he thinks, she must have blocked Charles' telepathic messages.

"Relax Charles, I was just at the bar and-" He stops midsentence when he sees the expression on Charles' face. "What happened?"

Charles is on the verge of tears. "It's Raven, a couple of drunken schoolboys attacked her on the way home. She couldn't hold on to her regular form. They would have killed her if I hadn't gotten her there in time."

….

They take turns at her bedside. Charles can use his powers to convince in-house doctors and nurses that they're treating a normal teenage girl, but a hospital stay is out of the question.

….

She awakens on the third day, battered and bruised, but alive.

"Erik," she gasps, looking up into his face, "is that you? Oh god, what happened? I just stepped out to go the grocery and then they...they."

"Hush," Erik whispers. "How would you like to go away, to live among fellow mutants, somewhere where you don't have to hide anymore?"

"But I thought Charles..."

"As much as I love him, Charles doesn't truly understand the reality of our situation. It's time for us to make our own path."

Raven slowly nods in understanding.

….

Erik will spend the rest of his life loving Charles, but for him love is not enough. He leaves with Raven for the Hellfire Club the next day and never looks back.


End file.
